In this interview, Tobias Andermann talks about his research and how he ended up working on the topics that he is currently researching. He talks about the biodiversity crisis and how we can use computers and big data to gain new insights into the natural world around us. Also, check out his recommendations to young aspiring scientists.

Our two review articles on the state of Madagascar's biodiversity, published in the journal Science, have drawn a lot of media attention.Linked here is the news article published by Uppsala University news, summarizing the key points covered in the review articles.

In the review articles we synthesize all publicly available information and data on the distribution of biodiversity and the extinction threats of individual species. We evaluate the current status and the future directions of conservation efforts to protect the extraordinary divers but severly threatened biodiversity on the island of Madagascar.

Our new Bayesian Neural Network approach, published in Nature Communications, was featured in the SciLifeLab Data Highlights.

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"In summary, Andermann and colleagues used an entirely data-driven approach to explore paleovegetation, in particular the origin and expansion of open vegetation. They showed that their Bayesian deep learning model was able to use fossil evidence as a basis for animal-plant interactions. The model, once trained, could then use this information to model how the vegetation changed over millions of years."

The AI-based biodiversity prediction approach presented in our most recent publication, was featured as a Data Highlight by SciLifeLab.

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“Using a combination of different publicly available data sources, we have produced a deep learning model that can predict the number of species that a given site can sustain, given the site’s geographic, climatic, and biotic features. ... Such tools will be important when deciding on where to create protected areas or which sites to set aside for biodiversity offsets, using a fully data-driven approach.” says Tobias Andermann, first author of the study.

In this Q&A style news article, Tobias Andermann tells about his research backgroud, his future aims, as well as his role within the DDLS network.

The Royal Academy of Forestry and Agriculture (Kungliga Skogs- och Lantbruksakademien - KSLA) awarded Tobias the prize for his recently defended PhD thesis (finished doctoral degree in Feb 2021).

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This award is awarded once a year to a person in Sweden, who has presented an outstanding doctoral dissertation at a university or college with relevance to the academy’s focus areas or related activities. The prize was given to Tobias in person by H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf at the Blå Hallen in Stockholms Stadshus.

Watch the recorded talk by Tobias Andermann outlining the research vision for the Biodiversity Data Lab and a summary of his previous research.

A short interview from Sverige Radio where Tobias Andermann is explaining the utility and challenges of big data in biodiversity research.

In this live TV interview Tobias Andermann discusses the scale of the current biodiversity crisis and why we should care. Watch the recorded interview by clicking on the button below.